BACCHUS AND ARIADNE' BY TITAN (TIZIANO VECELLIO)

I really dislike this painting. Despite its appearance (which I am not massively impressed by), I find the story ridiculous. If you don't know the story behind this painting, it is as follows;

After Ariadne helps her lover to slay the Minotaur, they go to honeymoon on a remote island where he abandons her in her sleep. Once I heard the story of this painting it reminded me instantly of Samson and Delilah's story of betrayal, a lover betraying love (supposedly the strongest belief below good). After she is abandoned, Ariadne is saved from her woe by the god of wine 'Bacchus' and his band of merry followers (drunken fools).

Inspired by Paula Rego's interest in modernising the paintings in the National Gallery, I decided to paint this image as if it was in the modern day. By putting myself in Ariadne's shoes, I brainstormed how I would have felt in her position and soon developed a hatred for this drunk god Bacchus. I realised that if I was in a position where I had just been abandoned by my boyfriend and I was stranded somewhere, I would be pretty pissed off by some drunk guy and his mates approaching me and trying to 'save' me from the situation. This not only is my modernisation of the piece, it is also the situation and story from a female gaze and female viewpoint, rather than a man's.

I began my process for this work by sketching out an observation of this painting and then a rough plan of my painting (trying to keep as much of the original structure as I could). As I didn't have photos of my subjects, I used photoshop and images from my camera roll of people in the positions I needed to create my drawing references (I also had to pose myself for one of these as I couldn't find the right body).

I then primed my canvas, sketched out my plan and got painting. As you can see below, I still haven't finished this piece, this is because I do not like it. The bit I have done so far is the brick wall, I began by painting each individual brick and then decided I hate it and went over it all with turpentine so it would smudge about- I don't like how this looks either. I do this that once I try and do it more freely, like the above painting I did, I will be able to complete this work, however, I am not liking it the way it is and I have left it, for the time being, unfinished.

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